Canada's Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Program

Modern War Crimes Program

The Modern War Crimes Program contains both a criminal element and an immigration element.

On the criminal side, investigations which will lead to criminal prosecutions for crimes against humanity or war crimes are extremely difficult, complex, and lengthy. Bringing cases to the point of laying a charge in a crime against humanity which occurred outside of Canada cannot be compared to the process of conducting criminal investigations in Canada under the Criminal Code. Other jurisdictions which are attempting to bring war criminals to justice have confirmed similar experiences.

The three partners are involved both in program development and in decision-making on individual cases through the Interdepartmental Operations Group. These activities progress concurrently with cases being investigated while required infrastructure is being developed. A number of significant program development activities have now been completed. These include the development and implementation of law and policy, the allocation of resources (done on an annual basis), the establishment of a mechanism to identify potential cases, and the establishment of criteria to determine which cases should be pursued and how they should be prioritized.

In order to evaluate cases for possible prosecution and to prioritize the investigations, the IOG has developed criteria under three categories.

Nature of allegation

• credibility of allegation
• seriousness of allegation
• seriousness of crime (genocide – war crimes – crimes against humanity)
• military or civilian position
• strength of evidence

Nature of investigation

• progress of investigation
• ability to secure cooperation with other country or international tribunal
• likelihood of effective cooperation with other countries
• presence of victims or witnesses in Canada
• presence of victims or witnesses in other countries with easy access
• likelihood of being part of a cluster of investigation in Canada
• likelihood of parallel investigation in other country or by international tribunal
• ability to conduct documentary research to test credibility of allegation
• likelihood of continuing offence/danger to the public related to crimes against humanity and war crimes allegations

Other considerations

• no likelihood of removal (credible allegation of risk of torture upon return or Canadian Citizen)
• no reasonable prospect of fair and real prosecution in other country
• no indictment by international tribunal or no extradition request likely
• likelihood of continuing offence/danger to the public not related to crimes against humanity and war crimes allegations
• national interest considerations

While these investigations are underway further infrastructure is in development. This includes refinement of specialized investigative techniques and a process model specifically adapted to developing these cases for prosecution as recommended in the Program Evaluation (See the History Section). Mechanisms are also being developed to facilitate international cooperation.

Additional challenges include bringing witnesses before the court. Occasionally a court may travel to other countries to take evidence and at other times witnesses may have to travel to Canada. Experience in other jurisdictions point to the complexities related to bringing witnesses from other countries before a local court. These include the expense related to travel and lodging as well as legal issues relating to their temporary stay in Canada.

CBSA's Modern War Crimes Program directly contributes to the objectives of IRPA in preventing persons who have been complicit in war crimes or crimes against humanity from accessing Canadian territory, and by taking the necessary enforcement action against those who do manage to come into Canada.

Since the inception of CBSA's Modern War Crimes Program in 1998,a three-pronged approach has been taken in dealing with modern-day war criminals, i.e. preventing suspected war criminals from reaching Canada by refusing their immigrant, refugee or visitor applications abroad; detecting such persons who have managed to come to Canada, whether they be in the refugee determination, permanent resident or citizenship processes; and by taking the necessary steps to exclude them from the refugee determination process, prevent them from becoming Canadian Citizens, or revoking their citizenship should they be detected after acquiring that status, and ultimately removing these individuals from Canada. Most applicants overseas are identified through the visa screening process. The majority of modern war criminals or persons who have committed crimes against humanity, who are in Canada are not citizens orpermanent residents but have come to Canada as visitors or refugee claimants. A complete description of CBSA's involvement in the Modern War Crimes Program may be found under the heading of Overview of Operations, Mandate and Structure.

DOJ and the RCMP use the funds allocated to them to investigate allegations that people now in Canada participated in the commission of crimes against humanity or war crimes during the Second World War or in the modern era. Counsel, police investigators and analysts also traveled overseas on a number of occasions in connection with these investigations.

DOJ and the RCMP have worked hard to develop and implement an integrated system to facilitate the conduct of modern war crimes investigations in Canada and throughout the world. Counsel, police investigators and analysts with extensive experience working with the international criminal tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda have been engaged. Personnel travelled to many countries in the history of the War Crimes Program to enter into formal arrangements with foreign governments to establish the necessary contacts which permit Canadian investigators to conduct investigations into crimes against humanity and war crimes in these countries. These arrangements enable investigators to interview potential witnesses, search archives and foreign government documents to advance the investigations.

DOJ continues its efforts to build a modern war crimes database to manage information obtained in support of the investigations conducted under the integrated system discussed above. The database will facilitate the management of the data obtained by our analysts from foreign archives and open sources, as well as the material gathered from police investigations on individual suspects, such as witness statements, individual identity documents and other forensic evidence. The database will also allow for easy cross-referencing of material and information within the Section to better enable us to support the work carried by the RCMP and CBSA.